


unordinary for sure

by justintyme, stars_on_ganymede



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Android AU, Android Evan, Android Evan AU, Android Evan Hansen, Based on DBH, But they're not close siblings either, Insecure Zoe Murphy, Other, Yeah I know some people don’t like character/OC, Zoe and Connor's relationship isn't as toxic as it is in cannon, but honestly we don’t know where this is heading, so strap on and if you like then you’ll be in for a hell of a ride!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-06-21 10:11:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15555456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justintyme/pseuds/justintyme, https://archiveofourown.org/users/stars_on_ganymede/pseuds/stars_on_ganymede
Summary: LifeUp robotics. A major world multi million dollar company that brings Androids to the world. Connor Murphy, the eldest son of the CEO of LifeUp always thought his life wasn’t that exciting. He has BPD, depression, and no help for his problems other than weed. So, he takes his anger out on others. One day he was ordered to the living room. Walking in, he spots an android. Not one he usually sees. A new prototype?Turns out it’s supposed to help him with his “anger issues”.As if that’s gonna work.





	1. CONNOR

"Connor!"

I've always hated attention. Mainly because the only type of attention I get is the worst kind of attention. My mom treats me like I'm a wild animal she's trying to tame, and Larry treats me like I'm a broken record he can't fix. They've all given up on me, and I can tell. I'm just the problem child. I cause problems that I can't fix. Mom knows it. Zoe knows it. Larry knows it. Everybody does.

And it sucks ass.

"Connor, get down here!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" I yelled back. I picked myself up and went downstairs to the living room. Was I in trouble? I snorted at that thought. When am I ever not in trouble? But what was I in trouble for? Did one of them find my weed stash? God, I hope not. I totally blew my allowance buying that shit from my dealer. Before I could think about how they could've found my stash, I reached the end of the staircase. "Okay, what the fuck is-"

Jared and Alana, the new workers, were in the room as well. But that wasn't the only thing that caught my attention. An android was there too, one I'd never seen before. It had dirty blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and it was wearing a blue striped polo shirt and a pair of khaki pants.

"What the hell is that thing?" I asked.

" _He's_ not a thing!" Jared spoke up, seeming pretty worked up about it. "His name is Evan."

"He's a new prototype." Alana added. "He was built to help you with your anger issues and be a personal guard for you and your sister. He'll be going to your school and put into all your classes to keep an eye on you. Don't worry, nobody will know he's an android."

"Oh, isn't this great, sweetie?" Mom said, smiling. This was all probably her idea. It always was. Ever since my parents found out how much of a freak I apparently was, my mom's been trying everything to try to connect and "understand" me. Like last year, she made the entire family turn vegan when I just didn't want to eat meatloaf for dinner for the fifth time.

"No, it's not, I don't need some stupid fucking android to try and help me with my anger issues." I shot back, putting air quotes around "anger issues".

"Give this a chance, Connor." Larry said. "This might actually help you."

I look over to Zoe, who was looking at the ground. She didn't say anything.

"Fine." I sighed. "Whatever."

**NEXT DAY**

Summer went by quickly. Too quickly for my taste.  
Having to deal with that android following me around also sucks ass. Anyways it’s the first day of school. Turns out the android, or “Evan” as I’ve been told, is supposed to be like a “friend” for me. That probably won’t last long. And even so, it’s a fucking robot. It can’t feel shit.

Waking up to Zoe yelling at me to get ready isn’t exactly the best way to get up. She seems pissed. You think she found out about the milk?

Hah, she deserves it.

Anyways I walk downstairs to see Jared doing something on Evan. Probably a fix or something

“Finally up, Murphy?” He asks snarkily.

“Fuck off, Kleinman.” I retort and walk to the kitchen. Grabbing some bread I put a piece in the toaster.

“Hi, Connor!” The android, sorry, _Evan_ said, waving and smiling. It always seemed so happy to see me, too happy for the average person (Then again, it wasn't a person) It was probably programmed to be like that.

I just look at Evan with a bored expression. “Hey.” I respond blankly. The toast pops up. Grabbing it, not caring for how hot it was, I place it on a paper towel.

“Isn’t that gonna burn you?” Evan asks tilting his head a bit.

“I give no shits.” I mumble to myself as I butter the toast.

“But, I don’t want you to get hurt!” Evan forces my hand away from the toast. “No touching it till it cools down!”

“The fuck? LET GO!” I try to push the android away but that doesn’t help. The fuck, why is it super strong? It literally drags me away from the toast over to the fridge.

“Get something to drink while you wait.” He commands. I grumble to myself and open the fridge pulling out the orange juice. Evan just seems to stare at it. The fuck? After a second or two, It turns away from it.

“It has quite a few calories, but it will probably help you gain some weight, going off how you seem to need to gain a few.” It informs

“The fuck? You calling me too skinny?!”

“Not too skinny, but you could gain a few.”

I grumble as I pour a glass. “How the fuck were you able to tell that info?”

“I can scan objects to check calories.”

I didn’t notice Jared walk in, but jumped a bit when he showed up behind Evan. “He literally has every android in one. So, he has a bit of those health tracker androids in him. He can scan stuff like that with ease and tell what you need.”

“Why the fuck does it need that?”

“We were kinda just experimenting and decided you could use a robot buddy and why not try it on you?”

“I don’t need an android.” I mutter and drink the cup of orange juice. Evan sets the bottle of orange juice back on the fridge. Finishing the glass I walks back over to the toast and grab it taking a bite out of it.

“What time is it?”

“7:01 am.” Evan informs me. I grumble, finishing my toast and walking out of the room to do some quick stuff. Walking to the kitchen I grab Zoe’s mascara pen. I usually steal it from Zoe. She hates it when I do it so fuck her. I try to put some on but it looks shitty. Cursing to myself I slam the mascara pencil down.

“You need some help?”

I turn around to see Evan watching me from the doorway.

“HOLY SHIT HOW DID YOU GET THAT OPEN I SWEAR I LOCKED IT”

“Your father gave me a key that can open any door in this house even when locked.”

“For fucks sake...yeah, you can help.” I hand him the pencil and he gets to work on it. When the android finishes, I look in the mirror. Holy shit.

“You did good. I’d like it if you did this for me every day?”

“Wait, really? Okay!” Evan exclaimed. “I like doing things for you!”

I nod in approval and glance to my chipping nail polish. I should get that re-done later. Hearing Zoe yell that if I don’t get down there in 5 minutes, she’ll leave. I sigh grabbing my bag from my room and head down aware of the android following behind me. We head out. I sit in the passenger seat and Evan just slides in the back.

It doesn’t take that long to get there, and with that, I wait to suffer through this shitty day in hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to this story! I go by Vega and I am a co-writer for this. We’ve decided a schedule of updates every Saturday and we’ll try to stick to it.
> 
> Anyways hope you like the story!!


	2. EVAN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're introduced to Evan's protection mode.

 

Walking, I glance around the school and to Connor. It seems somewhat familiar, but the route of the school was probably entered into my system. Connor seems to be trying to ignore me. I guess that’s understandable, though. Connor is about to open his locker before another student comes up to him. Scanning their face, I can read that it’s a student that goes by Aiden Anderson, another senior and a player on the football team. Connor immediately seemed to tense up when he noticed him walk towards us.

 

“Hey, freak. Surprised you lasted long enough to be here.” Aiden said in a looming manner, he was shorter than Connor, but he was much bulkier and muscular. He could probably fight better than Connor too, not to insult him, of course. (I mean, it’s not like I could, anyway. Insulting Connor isn’t in any of my commands.)

 

“Fuck you, Aiden.” Connor flipped him off.

 

“Feeling brave today, Murphy?” Aiden shoved Connor to the ground, making Connor curse and drop all his books. I felt something in my chest, something different, something _strong._ Was something tampering with my circuits?

 

“Oh my god, Connor, are you okay?” I dropped to the ground to help Connor up, he groaned in pain as I did so.

 

“You friends with this fucking freak, Hansen?” Aiden sputtered. “You’re lucky I haven’t wasted you both already.”

 

{//01010100 01001000 01010010 01000101 01000001 01010100 00100000 01000100 01000101 01010100 01000101 01000011 01010100 01000101 01000100 00101110 00100000 01000011 01001111 01000100 01000101 00111000 00111000 00110101 00100000 01000001 01000011 01010100 01001001 01010110 01000001 01010100 01000101 01000100 00100000}

 

My hands clenching into a fist, I go along with what my commands are telling to what to do and punch him in the face. Aiden stumbles back a bit.

 

“THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Him trying to get back up again, I kick him down, smirking a bit as I hear a groan of pain. I grab his face and slam him repeatedly into the locker. I can feel Connor’s along with a bunch more student’s eyes on me. Feeling the lack in resistance now, I’m pretty sure he is unconscious, and I allow his head to drop as I look around the area. Connor is getting up. Quickly grabbing my hand and pulling me away before a teacher gets to the scene.

 

{//01000100 01100101 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100001 01110100 01100101}

 

* * *

 

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Connor asked Jared, still holding my hand.

 

“What the fuck was what?” Jared replied blankly. Either he actually didn’t know what Connor was referring to, or was just trying to be annoying.

 

“That! The android kicking Aiden’s ass! What the fuck was that?” Connor practically yelled.

 

“Oh, that.” Jared acknowledged, pulling his glasses up. “That was Evan’s protection mode. Something in his system must have told him that Aiden was a threat to you, so his first instinct was to fuckin’ bench him. Then again, that mode was only supposed to be for extremely dangerous life-threatening situations, y’know, bigger stuff than getting a shove from Aiden Anderson. It must’ve been a glitch or something.”

 

“Bench him?” I asked, tilting my head.

 

“Oh my god, you don’t know what that means?” Jared cackled. “It means beating somebody up.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Hurting somebody, Evan. It means to hurt somebody really bad.” Connor deadpans.

 

“Well, he deserved it!” I exclaim. “He was being mean to you!’’

 

”Well, yeah. He _is_ an asshole but you literally just beat him up in the open. That’s sure to get some attention.” Connor sighs.

 

“Well..what should I do then?” I ask.

 

“Maybe apologize?” He suggests weakly. “I don’t fucking know, I’m not good at that shit.”

 

“..I’ll do it.” I state.

 

“Well, I suggest you don’t do it when his buddies are around. They’ll beat you to a pulp and I don’t want to fix you, and they’ll find out your secret.” Jared jokes. “Anyways, I should head out. Class is starting soon and I don’t want to be late due to you fucks. Bye, Murphy. Bye, Ev.” And he walks away. Connor snorts.

 

“Did he just call you Ev? Oh my god, that sounded _so_ gay.” He laughed.

 

“Sorry, Connor, but how does that sound gay?” I questioned, tilting my head again.

 

“Uh, he just called you Ev, that sounds like something a boyfriend would call you.”

 

“That doesn’t make sense, gay means happy, right?” I ask, unsure of myself.

 

“I mean, technically, it does.” Connor informs. “But, it can also mean a dude liking another dude. Romantically.”

 

“As in homosexuality?” I tried to understand. “Are _you_ homosexual, Connor?”

 

“What the fuck? Hell no!” Connor yells, almost disgusted that I would even suggest that.

 

“What does what the fuck mean?”

 

”Shouldn’t you know this? You’re an android, after all. I’m sure you should have access to the internet.”

 

“I was never really given a password or anything. I also think it needs to be entered manually.”

 

“For fucks sake, and I thought Androids were more high-tech then that.” He groans.

 

“We are given access to as much as we can. Some humans still fear if we have enough power, something bad could happen.”

 

“Well, shit. That’s sad. Shouldn’t you feel..I dunno...feel something about that?”

 

“Androids don’t have emotions.”

 

“Ah yes, the mighty needless machine. Apathetic at default. Humanity fears a machine with emotion in case it feels we are using it for slavery.” Connor chuckles darkly.

 

“Along with therapy bots. Used to help the fuckups but can’t understand them. Pin it all on a mental illness. Nothing more.” Connor stands up. “C’mon. Let’s get going. I don’t wanna stay in this area any longer.” And walks out of the room. I am forced to follow.

 

“You know, you can go visit Aiden. Apologize. I can cover for you.” He quips over his shoulder. I nod and Connor enters his class. I turn to the direction of the nurse’s office and head off.

 

* * *

 

 

I walk into the room, the walls are white and the nurse was sitting in a swivel chair at the counter, typing away on his computer. He had very blonde hair, but it was mostly dyed hot pink and he had piercing blue eyes.

 

“Uh, hi. I want to go see Aiden Anderson?” I ask.

 

“Mhm, mhm.” The nurse replied, clicking his pen. “Honey, you’re gonna have to go through the left door, and you’re bound to find him in one of them beds. Poor boy got hit dry, ain’t nobody deserve that stress.”

 

“Uh, okay, alright.” I enter the left door, my eyes being met with five beds, one of them with a varsity letterman with a concussion on top of it. He seemed really tired, and he _was_ tired, in every definition possible. Before I could walk over to his bed, Aiden’s eyes fall on me, and he gives me a hard glare.

 

“Hansen.” He greets coldly, not taking his eyes off me. “Why are you here?”

 

“I wanna apologize.” I responded, not being shaken up by the glare. But I do feel a bit of a fleeing feeling in me. Weird. I watch as Aiden’s eyes go from cold to cold with a bit of confusion.

 

“What?”

 

“I’m sorry I hit you. It was out of line.”

 

There was a bit of silence before Aiden chuckles a bit.

 

“You have quite a punch, Hansen. never thought you had it in ya.”

 

I smile weakly. “I guess..”

 

“Anyways, I guess I accept your apology. I’ll tell my friends not to attack you. Just. Don’t attack me this hard next time, will ya?”

 

“I’ll try.” I chuckle softly.

 

“Good. Anyways, shouldn’t you be in class right now?”

 

“I’m covered.”

 

“Alright, then. But you still should leave. You don’t have to spend your whole class in the nurse's office.”

 

“Okay...see you around?” I question. Something flashes on his face. I see a bit of red. It's probably the concussion.

 

“Yeah. See you around, Hansen.” He smiles.

 

And with that, I leave the room.


	3. ALANA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A day in the life of Alana Beck.

Ever since I was a child, I’ve barely ever got noticed. There was always somebody who was better or smarter or stronger than me. I wanted that to change. I started to work harder and act smarter, but that still wasn’t enough. I didn’t make change anything, at least not anything that mattered. I was still unnoticed and left behind. I wanted to succeed in life and have my name plastered on the insides of the future’s history books, I wanted to be appreciated and for once in my life, noticed.

That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to work at LifeOn technologies, and that’s why I was so excited to work on the latest android model: EH300.

EH300 was one of the company’s most advanced prototype, which wasn’t much of a surprise, considering the fact that he was so new and he was built to be a personal android for the Murphys, the company’s founders themselves. The Murphy’s were a prestigious and rich family, which wasn’t much of a surprise, either. Of course they needed such a advanced Android, they deserved it! The android will apparently be going by the name “Evan Hansen”, who was apparently built after the head designer’s son, who tragically died only years ago.

Now I sit and wait for EH300 to enter for his daily analysis. I grin as he enters.

“EH300! Sit over here.” I motion to a chair used for android examinations. Once he sits, I ask some questions as I use a card to open the main hatch for all the major mechanisms.

“Have your parts been working correctly?” I ask as I check a few things, such as battery percentage. He nods.

“Good.” And with that, I shut him down. When we do exams, we are supposed to shut them down to take out the memory card or else the memory scanner will break and corrupt memories. I put the charger on as I take out memory card, plugging it into the computer.

Entering my password, I get access to all the memories and modes he was put in. Huh. Seems he went into protection mode during school. I’m pretty sure I would’ve heard of a fight, so it must’ve been a memory corruption or the like. Weird, though.

Shrugging it off I download the memories to the main drive and plug back in turning on EH300. He blinks a bit recalibrating before focusing on me.

“Your analysis should be done, EH300. You can leave now.”

“Alright.Thank you, Alana.” He grins a bit before getting up.

“Wait.” I stop him before he can leave.

“You don’t need to use the android part of the bus, since you are supposed to be posing as a human, you can use the human part. It could also probably help with learning about stuff if you use the human part of the bus.” I inform him.

I see his eyes light up, and he smiles widely. “Ooh, exciting!”

“Well, you can head off now.” I softly push him in the direction of the door. He does so with a bit of an excited bounce to his step.

I smile a bit and head off to Miss Hansen’s office. She glances up when I enter.

“Alana, nice to see you.” She responds as I enter.

“I sent the synopsis of what happened today for him to your computer.”

“Thank you, dear. Oh, and Alana, I’m changing back to my maiden name,” She says. “Gabor.”

“Huh? Why?” I question.

“Hansen holds too many..not-that-great memories for me. I mainly kept it for Evan, the real Evan, but he since he’s not with us anymore, I don’t really feel the need to keep it as my last name.”

“Oh, Alright.” I nod, feeling sad about her son’s death. “Do you know when you’re gonna go get it switched?”

“Next Friday.”

“Alright. I wish you luck then.”

“Thanks.” she offers me a tired smile.  
_______________________________

“Hey, Anal Beck!” Jared Kleinman, a close acquaintance and co-worker of mine calls out to me, with EH300 and Connor Murphy right behind him.

“I thought I told you I didn’t appreciate it when you called me that.” I remark, more amused than irritated with the boy.

“So, how was the android analysis shit with Evan?” Jared asked, with a smirk on his face. After seeing that smirk a thousand times on his face, you notice that it never really reaches his eyes.

“Oh, it was fine!” I smile. “But it did say that he went into protection mode during school, but I didn’t hear about any fight, so that was pretty weird.”

“Oh yeah, he did go into protection mode.” Jared seems to acknowledge.

“What!? Why?”

“Aiden Anderson.”

“Evan shouldn’t be able to get into that mode that easily! We should file a report.”

“No. I actually found it funny that that happened.” Connor stated “Besides, he apologized after.”

“Wait, he apologized after?” Jared asked.

Yeah, Evan would’ve probably gotten beaten up if he didn’t, and he would’ve probably gotten exposed if he was.” I state.

“I’ll hold off on reporting it for you two, but if he does anything like that again, I’ll report it.”

“Thanks.” Connor nods in approval.

“No problem.” I smile.

“How did the apology go, anyway?” Jared asks.

“It went great! After school, Aiden even asked if maybe we could go out for coffee sometime!” EH300 responded giddily.

“Wait….so Aiden Anderson of all people basically asked you out for a date? Oh my god!” Jared cackles.

“Well, I don’t think it’s a date, Jared…” EH300 responds, looking down. There is a hint of a blush on him, though. The blush, of course, being blue due to thirium. “None of my files on him say he’s attracted to males, and considering that all his friends seem to be heterosexual..”

“Sure, Evan. Sure”. Jared responds.

“I don’t even think Aiden Anderson is even gay. I mean, the guy has thrown quite a few f slurs at me.” Connor mutters. “I’m pretty sure he’s just your average dude-bro football player that shoves freshman into their lockers.”

“Societal pressures, dude. Maybe he has internalized homophobia and deep rooted insecurities about his sexuality, so he has to take his insecurities out on others. It's like he hates himself so much, he has to express his self hatred towards other people because he doesn't know how to deal with his emotions healthily."

"You seem to know a lot about that, Jared." Connor remarks.

"What? It's happened before."

“Oh, _sure._ ” Connor responds skeptically. “Alright. I have some stuff to do so I should get a leave. Bye, guys.” And Connor leaves. EH300 following behind. I noticed there was a bit of a far off look in Connor’s eyes.

“Wonder why he had to leave so early. Gonna have Ev suck his dick and couldn’t wait any longer?” Jared snarked.

“I don’t know, but..he looked kinda..I don’t know. He seemed a bit out of it, don’t you think? I’m worried.”

“Maybe he’s out of it because he’s too busy thinking about how good it is gonna feel to have android dick in his ass.”

“Oh, so you know what that feels like?” I joke. I grin at his shocked face and leave the room. Today, I have to say, was an...interesting day at the least.

 


	4. ZOE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe meets somebody new.

Sometimes, I feel like I have something watching me. Especially since that android arrived. I know it’s not the android, because it’s mainly around Connor (Since, y’know, _everything_ is about Connor. Connor, Connor, Connor.) but..still. It kinda...unnerves me a bit. The air always seems cooler around me, too. Which is weird. So it was very so unnerving when the air around me warmed up again. I felt like whatever was “watching” me left all of a sudden.

 

I glance to the clock. It’s around 9. I should be hearing Connor blare his music from his room but I haven’t heard anything from him. Confusion crawling up inside me, I get up to go check on Connor. What I actually find is Connor is gone and the android is shut down. I sigh. He is probably out getting high and had to get it off his back. I walk over to turn it on again. I watch as it turns on, blinking a bit. The glow to its eye is actually a bit enticing.

 

“Where’s Connor?” The android asks as it glances around.

 

“Probably getting high somewhere.” I dismiss the Android’s worry. The android sits there a bit before getting up quickly.

 

“Connor is in danger. I sense a lack in heartbeat.” And with that, the android runs out of the room. I run after it.

 

“What the fuck does that mean!?” He’s probably only getting high!”

 

“Marijuana doesn’t have that effect on the heart.” The android turns to me. “Go tell your parents. I’ll find him.” and with that the android runs out the door. I stand there in shock. Mom was in the living room as I went to find her.

 

“Did you see Connor leave?” I ask mom.

 

“No, why? Is he gone?”

 

“The android said it sensed Connor is in danger. I found it shut down in Connor’s room.” I inform. Mom sits up. Worry in her eyes.

 

“Zoe, c’mon. We should get going. I’ll call your father.”

 

“Wait, you really think he is in trouble?”

 

“Zoe, your father had these chips placed in yours and Connor’s heads when you were younger. It’s to be used for health tracking and to be used by the police if you ever get kidnapped or missing. Evan has access to those files of which the info on the chips are. If Evan sensed something is wrong, there probably is.”

 

“Wait..we have chips in our heads?” I ask, shocked.

 

“It was commanded by the government before you were even born, dear. We had no control. But let’s get going. I have an access to a tracker on Evan. We can find him and see what’s going on.” And with that, we head out. I kinda stood there surprised a little while and then continued to go along with her. Mom drives us to where he Android is. It was tense in the vehicle. When we came into view, It senses it was us and motions us toward him as we get out.

 

“How is he?” Mom asks finding a delirious Connor on a bench.

 

“Pulse is slowly dropping. He ingested some Temazepam.”

 

“So he grabbed my sleeping pills and then went out here to overdose on it..?” Mom asks worriedly.

 

“Yes ma’am.” It says. “The ambulance should be here any moment.”

 

I can hear sirens in the distance. The cold feeling is back again, and it feels like it’s patting my shoulder, like it was trying to comfort me.

 

An ambulance arrives and paramedics burst out, rushing over to Connor with a stretcher. They take him in checking stats well one of them asks Evan some questions. Mom wanted to go with in the ambulance so she tells me to take Evan with. I sigh as they leave with Connor.

 

“C’mon.” and motion for the android to follow. It does so. As I glance back to the road, we manage to get to the hospital. I sigh as we park. The android immediately comes out and seems to be about to head in before it pauses glancing back

 

“Are you coming in?”

 

“Not yet...I need to process what just happened..”

 

“Humans need to process stuff?” It asks, tilting its head.

 

“Yeah. It’s different from how you do, but yeah.”

 

“Alright…”

 

I sigh, bringing my knees to my chest. “God, how did this happen? Why did this happen?” I say to myself, tired.

 

“Fate, I guess.” A voice (that wasn’t mine) but sounded a lot like the android said, almost carelessly.

 

I turn around to the seats behind me, half-expecting the android to be there. Except it isn’t. I see a boy with bleached blonde hair, so light it was almost completely colorless, and black tips at the ends. His skin was pale, and none of his eyes had irises, and the left eye looked like it was cracked-- _broken._ He was wearing a striped polo shirt and khakis, just like the android..In fact, he looked almost exactly like the android, only broken..and dead.

 

And that wasn’t even the worse part. You could see right through him, he was fucking _transparent._

 

I jump back, looking at the figure with wide eyes. “What the fuck are you!?” I scream.

 

“Huh?” The figure asked, looking behind him for a second, as if I could be talking to anybody else. “Oh, you can see me now?”

 

“Who are you and why do you look so much like..like..”

 

“The android?” He says for me. “I’m Evan Hansen..um, the real one, anyway.”

 

“You’re the kid Jared and Alana told me you were built after..” I say in shock, not really knowing if I was going crazy or if this was real. “How are you here?”

 

“I’m..I’m a ghost.” He says. “..I think.”

 

“No, I mean..why are you here? Isn’t there an afterlife for you? Do you have unfinished business? And why are you here with _me!?”_

 

“I don’t know!” He almost yells. “I’m just as confused as you are! All I’ve been doing is following you and my mom around because I literally have no idea what else to do!”

 

“So, are you why I always feel like I’m being watched?”

 

“Yep. Unless there’s another ghost, which I doubt there is.” He leans a bit closer to me. I try to go back some more. “The real question is, though, how the hell can you see me now?”

 

“Do you think I know?” I ask him.

 

“Obviously not. But it’s still confusing”

 

“Oh…”

 

“So...is it fine if I do stay around you?”

 

“I guess...I mean it’s probably boring and sad having to watch your mom or something.”

 

“Yeah..it’s kinda sad watching her mourn.”

 

“I bet it is. By the way, how did you die?” I question.

 

“..I shouldn’t exactly say at this moment..”

 

“Yeah…I guess that’s true.”

 

“So...um...should we go?”

 

“Yeah...Yeah, let's head out..”

 


	5. CONNOR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor talks to Aiden.

Ever since my attempt, it seems like everybody had been on edge about me. Which isn’t good, because like I said before, I hated the attention. I hated being treated like some broken part of the family. And now, I had all the attention. And it didn’t stop at home, either. Word had gone on about me somehow, and people have been giving me pity looks in the hallway and some of the assholes at school may have forgotten that the kid they said would be better off dead was the same one who tried to do exactly that. Some of them had been coming up and apologizing to me, which they obviously just did so they won’t look like douchebags.

And Larry had also told Jared to reprogram Evan so that I couldn’t shut him down anymore. (Yes, I’m calling it “him” now. I’m tired of Jared correcting me every time I don’t.) Not only that, they made Evan more protective over me, and he refuses to let me out of his sight unless Larry or Mom tells him to stop. For the past few days, it felt like the thing had been breathing down my neck.

I’ve also noticed that Aiden Anderson has been glaring at me a lot more than usual. I mean, he always glares at me, but now, it seems like he’s doing it every time I’m even _slightly_ in his line of vision. I usually glare back at him, but It’s gotten to the point where I got tired of it. So, I just ignore him.

It’s morning when Evan suddenly shuts down. It happened when I was getting ready. I had just gotten toast and then suddenly, the android shuts down and Larry immediately goes over to check how it’s working.

“Some biocomponents stopped working. I’ll have it get checked out.” Larry sighs. “Seems you two will be without an android for the day. Connor, you better not skip.”

“Damnit. That was gonna be the highlight of my day!” I say sarcastically. Larry glares at me in return. I glare back before picking up my backpack and heading towards the door.

“Connor, where are you going?” Larry yells.

“School.” I respond, not looking back.

“You’re walking?” He questions.

“Yep.” I pop the p, grabbing the door knob.

“It’s raining, though!” Mom cuts in.

“I know.” And I walk out, slamming the door.

The rain actually calms me. The cold droplets hitting my heated skin cools and brings my attention somewhere else. I actually considered skipping as a huge “fuck you” to my parents, but surprisingly, I do wanna pass senior year and graduate so I can escape this hell hole of a town.

I trudge through the mud and puddles as the rain pours. I grumble to myself as I pull up my hood and focus on the wet ground.

Once I get to school, I am soaked. Thankfully, I have an extra hoodie I carry around, just in case I need to cover me smelling like weed.

I walk to the bathroom and change in a stall. Once I finish, I walk out and glance around me. I can hear whispers. Probably about how Evan isn’t here. I also notice how Jared and Alana aren’t in school either. Larry probably got them out to try to find out what’s wrong with the android.

I grumble to myself as I hear the warning bell. Other students immediately say their goodbyes as they rush off to class. I just walk and head to my class. I enter right as the bell rings. I go to my usual seat in class. The farthest back seat to the right. AP English is easy for me so I just sit back and relax, slightly zoning out. I’m glad I have English first due to how tired I usually am in the morning and I don’t have to worry about missing anything important due to already knowing this stuff.

I glance to the bookshelf next to me and snort when I see this one book. The adventures of Huck Finn. Or as I say, Fuck Finn. I hear a slight thump of something light hitting my desk. I look back to see a crumpled up piece of paper. I glance around glaring to see if anyone flinches to show who threw it but nobody does. Huffing, I pick it up and uncrumple it. Nobody in this class is dumb enough not to waste paper to just throw it at me so it obviously had something on it.

“Meet me near the east entrance bathroom after school.” it reads. Shoving it in my pocket, I dare not to think of it. I glance back to the teacher, now, at least, I get a hint at what is being taught.

Unlike my other teachers, I didn’t mind my English teacher, Mr. Robel. He was young and open to new ideas. And he was dating another teacher, Mr. Rilow. I’m not in his class, but I heard that he was really snarky and tell a lot of stories about Mr. Robel.

I sit back in my chair and listen to Mr. Robel ramble, trying not to think too much about the paper.

* * *

I didn’t really want to, but I listened to the paper I got in english. I was a little paranoid that it could be a trap or something, maybe some assholes were trying to lure me into their den or whatever so they could taunt me or beat me up.

But some little part of me thought that it may have been important, considering how the other kids have been somewhat nicer to me since my attempt. I mean, they still spread rumors about me and shit, it’s not perfect, but nobody has been trying to shove me in a locker or anything. I mean, they probably will once the whole craze about my attempt has worn off, but for now, nothing has happened.

The school day goes by slowly but I manage to get to the end. I wait for whoever sent the message after school. I jump a bit when I feel someone tap my shoulder. I hear a chuckle at that. I turn around to glare at whoever it was to see Aiden looking at me with a smirk.

“It’s really crowded for it being after school right now. Wanna head somewhere private? Don’t worry about me beating you up or anything, I just wanna ask some questions."

“Sure.” I reply, speaking through my teeth. I’m kinda worried about what he wants to talk about. Aiden leads the way. We end up on the second floor commons area. It’s supposed to be a library, but they moved the library to a newer area so it’s just abandoned, really. People usually go up there to chat.

“Alright. What do you want?” I ask, turning to him as we enter.

“Do you know why Hansen isn’t here today?” He questions, sounding seemingly worried about that.

“Uh..um..” I fumble for an answer “I don’t know.” I say, wincing, because I know that’s literally the worst reply ever given.

Something in Aiden’s expression changes, he goes from looking worried to glaring at me, but not in the same way he does in the hallways. His expression is cold, and his eyes seem like they could throw daggers at me. I felt chills go down my back a little.

“What did you do to him?” Aiden asks in the most menacing way possible. “You did something to him, didn’t you?”

“I said I didn’t know why he isn’t here today, man!” I almost shout.

“You say you don’t know, but I know you do know. I can see it in your face, Murphy.” Aiden grits his teeth. “You did something to him, that’s why he’s acting so weird now, and that’s why he isn’t here today, isn’t it, you fucking psycho!?”

“And you know how he acts? It’s not like you knew him before!” I spit back.

“...Do you seriously not remember that he used to go to this school?” Aiden asks.

Wait, he went to this school before? But he’s an android, and a new one too. Besides, I thought the kid he was based on went to a different school. "He didn't go to this school before?"

“Yeah, he did. In freshman year. But he moved schools in junior year, and now he's back again."

I’m still confused. “Why did he leave?”

“I dunno. Ask him yourself.” Aiden retorts.

I look at him, still not knowing what he was talking about.

“I know you did something to him, Murphy. He’s suddenly acting more confident, and the way he acts around you..” He seems to shrivel up in disgust thinking about it. “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this and save him from you.”

“Save him from me? What, like I’m some sort of evil dragon and he’s a damsel in distress? And are you the brave knight in shining armor? What, you gonna give him a fucking kiss at the end too?”

“Fuck you too.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I hit a weak spot for you?..Wait, shit, do you _actually_ have a crush on him? Holy fuck, that’s priceless!”

“Tell anybody and I’ll make it my duty to end your life, Murphy.” He threatens.

“I’ll await the day, Anderson!” And with that, I shut the door on him.

 

God, I’m gonna have a lot to process today.

* * *

I rush back home, shutting the door behind me. I see that the android is back and sitting on the couch with a small cup of thirium in his lap. He automatically whips his head to look at me.

“Connor!” He smiles, and then his smile immediately drops. “You look troubled. Do you want to talk?”

“No.” I reply swiftly. “Can you tell me if Jared or Alana are still here?”

“Certainly, Connor.” Evan replies. “Jared and Alana both went back home, but I’m sure you can call or text Jared, considering that he said that he had a lot of free time after he left. Alana had some business she had to take care of after she left, I’m afraid.”

“Alright.” I head upstairs, aware of the android following behind me like a lost puppy. Once I enter my room, which has recently had it’s door off, mind you. “Safety precautions”, according to Mom and Larry. I sigh, flopping on my bed. I feel a slight indent where Evan sat next to me. I glance up to him.

“Can you get me a water?” I ask. He straightens up a bit and gets up. “Sure!” And leaves. Sighing in relief, I turn on my phone and go over to Jared’s contact, almost laughing at the name I gave him. I start typing.

 

 **Me:** Hey, Kleinman, you have a moment?

 **Jared Assface:** alrightm. just dont waste my precious time

 **Me:** What do you know about the person the android is based on?

 

There is a long pause before I see the ellipses that show he’s typing appear again.

 

 **Jared Assface:** why do u wanna know??

 **Me:** Answer the question, dipshit.

 **Jared Assface:** no. until u tell me why u wanna know im not giving any info

 **Me:** Fine. Aiden confronted me today and he is getting suspicious.

 **Jared Assface:** and????

 **Me:** And I just wanna know how the guy acted and maybe what happened. Happy?

 **Jared Assface:** fine. listen up alright?? im not gonna say this again. it’s somewhat of a…..sore topic u know

 **Me:** Fine. Just tell what is needed.

 **Jared Assface:** alright. so im pretty sure u already assumed evan was built after the real evan hansen who is dead?

 **Me:** Yeah?

 **Jared Assface:** ive known evan, the real evan since we were in diapers. my mom and ms hansen, the designer behind the android and the real evans mom, were good friends and introduced us @ a young age. but..the real evan was..an interesting person 2 say the least. he had v bad anxiety. & i mean rlly bad. the guy couldnt even order a pizza by himself. but anyways if u got thru the anxiety he actually was quite the clever guy. he knew a lot abt trees and was p good @ writing too. he was also a loner u know??? i do think u 2 couldve became good friends

 

I hear Evan coming in. His footsteps literally sound metallic, and that’s honestly kind of funny. I send Jared a quick thanks and turn off my phone. Evan comes in holding a cup of water and what looks like a sandwich. He hands me the water and..yeah, it was a sandwich.

“I noticed you haven’t eaten anything today, so I made you a sandwich!” He smiles.

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”

“At least eat a little bit?” He tilts his head and gives me puppy eyes. And apparently, the puppy eyes work on me. I nod and take a bite from the sandwich.

“Thank you, Connor.” His puppy eyes disappear. “You really shouldn’t skip meals, you know. It can damage your body if you keep doing it. From now on, I’m making sure you eat more than just a sandwich everyday.”

“Oh, fuck off.” I roll my eyes. The android hasn’t been letting me smoke weed, either. And it’s hard to try and do it behind his back, because he’s almost always with me and apparently the chip in my brain (which is fucking crazy and I haven’t gotten over that yet, holy shit) can tell him if my brain is high or whatever.

“Don’t tell me to fuck off.” Evan says, which honestly caught me off guard--the thing never calls me out. Well, not until now. My parents must’ve made him start doing it, I think. “I’m not here to be a punching bag, my sole purpose is to keep you safe and healthy. Now eat the rest of your sandwich.”

“Jesus Christ, fine.” I reply, taking another bite.


	6. JARED/ZOE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first multi-POV chapter. Jared is in denial about him being friends with the Real Evan and Zoe is talking to his ghost.

**JARED**

 

Today was a long day.

 

Well, not really. I just had enough of Connor Murphy, which is usually not something I’d say. I would never admit it to his face, but hanging around him was actually pretty nice. He kind of reminds me of Evan. The real Evan. And he’s fun to mess with, too. But him asking me about the real Evan is just..not right. I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Not now, and probably not ever.

 

Ever since he died, I had been trying to convince myself that Evan and I weren’t actually friends. Maybe close acquaintances (God, who am I, Alana?), but not friends. We had been forced to hang out with each other, the only reason we probably even know the other existed is because our moms knew each other. Besides, I had other friends. They just didn’t talk to me a lot, well, at least not as much as I think normal friends do. And they didn’t answer any of my texts, either. Either way, I didn't need Evan.

 

Maybe, just maybe, the reason Evan dying made me feel bad was because how I treated him when he was alive. I was a dick to him. I had made fun of his anxiety and sometimes I even took advantage of it. But neither Heidi or any of my parents know that, and it feels like a huge weight on my shoulder, how I treated him like shit just because he wasn’t..I don’t know, cool? Normal?

 

Or maybe it’s because of Heidi. I felt bad for her, everything she ever did, she did it all for her son. And when he died, she’s been working more than ever, probably trying to distract herself from that image of her son dead at the bottom of a tree from her mind. I've been trying to do that, too. He was somebody I grew up with, seeing him pale and dead wasn’t exactly light on the soul, and he was only the same age I was..

 

Sometimes, I lie awake at night thinking about how young Evan was, how soon I’m gonna turn 18 then 19 and then 20 and on and on and how Evan missed the life that was so far ahead of him, and I treated him like _shit._

 

Ever since Evan died, there had been something missing from mine and everybody else’s life. And talking about it, hell, even _acknowledging_ it probably won’t do me or anybody else good. So, it was none of Connor’s business to know anything about Evan Hansen, and it wasn’t any of Aiden Anderson’s business either. Just mine and Heidi’s. Besides, why did Aiden Anderson, of all people, care about Evan anyway?

 

* * *

 

“So, Murphy.” I say, he was having breakfast right now and I was there to make sure everything was right with Evan, android Evan. I keep reminding myself that he’s not the real one. I was there at the Murphys’ house every morning for this, it became routine at this point. “Why was Aiden suspicious, anyway?”

 

Connor snorted under his breath. “It turns out you were right, dickhead.” He says. “Aiden had a crush on the real Evan. He was worried about Evan not being at school yesterday, and now he thinks I did something to him.”

 

I’m a bit surprised, I was just joking then. Well, sometimes I suspected that the guy had internalised homophobia, but I was never really sure. “Really?”

 

“Hm?” The android asked, whipping his head around to look at Connor. “Did you say something about Aiden, sir?”

 

Connor almost choked on his food. “Sir!?”

 

“Oh, your parents wanted me to make the android call you sir and Zoe ma’am at home, they thought it would be more respectful.”

 

“Why? Evan already calls them sir and ma’am!”

 

“Yeah, because Evan was made for them, and he was made for you and Zoe, too. So it would make sense for him to call both of you guys that, doesn’t it?”

 

I couldn’t really tell what Connor felt about being called sir. He certainly wasn’t glad, but if you asked me whether he was uncomfortable, confused, or irritated, I couldn't be able to tell you. His expression was a mix of all three. To be honest, I didn’t know what to feel about it, either.

 

“Yeah, s’real kinky, isn’t it?” I quipped.

 

“Shut up!” Connor’s face was red. “It’s not.”

 

“Right.” I smirk.

 

“Oh, sir-” Evan started. “Do you know where Zoe is? I haven’t seen her leave yet, and she usually doesn’t sleep in..”

 

Connor seemed to realize that Zoe wasn’t there, and I think he felt kinda guilty for not noticing in the first place. I thought she had eaten breakfast early, she started to do that more frequently. Probably because she thinks that there’s gonna be a fight between her and Connor. But Mr. Murphy had just left for work and Mrs. Murphy was off doing other business, It was usually Connor who slept in or was late. (He did sleep in today, but you don’t expect that from Zoe).

 

“Should I go check on her, sir?” Evan asks Connor. Connor just motions for him to go ahead. Evan gets up and walks out of the room.

 

**ZOE (POV SWITCH)**

 

“Ugh. Why does math have to be so hard?” I sigh, bringing my head down onto the desk.

 

“Troubles?” Evan, the _real_ Evan, asks. I still didn’t know how I was able to see him. I mean, I guess it would make sense if his mom could see him since she and Evan had the most relation, but It had been me. I’ve only known the real Evan since I saw his ghost in the ambulance. We’re kinda close now, I guess. After a few days, we’ve become less like acquaintances and acted more like broke teenage roommates who had to move in with each other to split the rent.

 

“No shit, Sherlock.” I retort.

 

“Fuck off, Watson.” He replies. “Move your fat ass, I want to see what it is so I can help.”

 

I bring my head off the desk to glare at him. He floats over to take a look.

 

“Ah, long division. The bane of my existence.” He chuckles to himself. “This is some pretty easy shit though, you sure it’s hard?”

 

“Oh yeah, smartass? Answer it.”

 

“Alright.” He grabs my pencil and does it. I just watch. “Done!” He fucking yeets the pencil at the door.

 

“...Why did you throw the pencil?”

 

“Why not?”

 

I look at Evan for a second, and then I look the the paper. “Hey, can you, um..”

 

“What?”

 

“Promise me you won’t laugh.”

 

Evan is confused now. “Okay?”

 

“My math teacher says I might have this.. math learning disability?” I flinch a bit, expecting Evan to laugh. But he doesn’t. Maybe it wasn’t as big as a deal as I thought it was. “It’s called Dyscalculia, and-”

 

The door flings open.

 

We both look back. I jump back a bit in surprise and Evan just looks bored. I look at whoever opened the door, It’s the other Evan. Android Evan.

 

“Oh, so you are up!” the android comments as it enters.

 

I can see the real Evan scowl a bit. I wonder why.

 

“What were you doing?” The android walks in and goes over to the paper. “That doesn’t look your handwriting..” It says, suspicious. “Nor does it look like any of your teacher’s handwriting.”

 

“How do you know what the teacher’s handwriting looks like?”

 

“I have it stored in my database.”

 

“Weird..” I mutter.

 

“So, why does your handwriting not look like yours?” The android asks.

 

I fumble for an answer, looking at Evan, the real one, for help. I think about how weird I must look, glancing nervously at thin air.

 

“Just say you’re trying out new handwriting, I don’t know!” Evan loudly whispers. I don’t know why he’s whispering, it’s not like anyone but me can hear him.

 

“Uh..there’s this kid in my math class with nice handwriting, and I wanted to try their handwriting out?” I sputter.

 

“Really? What’s their name?” The android asks, tilting its head.

 

“Uh..um..” My eyes land on potted plant. “Pot...er..plant?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Uh, Potter Plantman!"

 

The Real Evan looks bewildered by my answer. “Holy shit!” He exclaims. “Well, great job, no way you’re gonna come back from that. I mean, that’s ridiculous-”

 

“Oh. Well, alright!” The android smiles. “You should come downstairs soon. Your brother is wondering why you didn’t come down yet.”

 

“Connor’s wondering why I’m not down? He’s up at this time? What a miracle!”

 

The android goes over to the door again. “Come downstairs soon and get something to eat.” And it shuts the door. I sigh in relief.

 

“So, he knows your teacher’s handwriting, but he doesn’t know there’s not a kid in your school called Potter Plantman?" Evan asks me.

 

“Maybe there is,” I suggest. “I may have not noticed them.”

 

“I know how that feels.” Evan sighs. “Do you think anybody remembers when I came to your school freshman year?”

 

“You came to my school freshman year?” I asked. “I thought you were at some other school..”

 

“Well, in junior year, yeah. This guy, Aiden Anderson, bullied me really bad when I was a freshman. I think he may have been the only one except for Jared that really noticed me. The bullying got so bad, though, that my mom made me switch schools. I died over the summer before I could start senior year, though.”

 

“Aiden Anderson? As in the short football guy?” I ask, scrunching up my eyebrows.

 

“Yeah, you know ‘im?”

 

“No, but I’ve heard of him. Some of my friends said they heard he was talking shit about Connor. One even says he they seen Connor punch him straight in the jaw last year.”

 

“Like the android did?”

 

“Yeah, like the android did..”

 

“God, that was so funny to watch.” He snorted. “Not to sound like I’m an advocate for beating people up, but I’m glad that that shitbag got what he deserved.”

 

“You watched it?” I asked confused. I didn’t really feel a disturbance in the cold that I usually feel when Evan was around.

 

“Yeah, I got bored in that morning class of yours and decided to go around the school and I got there just in time!”

 

“Huh…” I respond dumbly. I look at Evan. “Well, I can probably try to finish this at school later..let’s head downstairs?”

 

“Fuck yeah, food!” He grins, pumping his arms in the air.

 

“Can you even eat?” I ask him.

 

“Haven’t tried yet. But I want to now.”

 

“Alright then..for science?”

 

“For science!”

 

“How even are you gonna grab something without being noticed..”

 

“Oh, I have a plan.” he grins mischievously.

 

* * *

 

**JARED (POV SWITCH)**

 

I see Zoe walk out of her room and take a seat. I laugh a bit at her clothes, she dresses like a stereotypical lesbian. Plaid shirt, rolled up jeans, yup, nothing suspicious there.

 

“Finally up?” I ask.

 

“Nobody asked you, Jared Kleinfuck.”

 

I look over to Connor, who I think is currently trying to hold back a small chuckle. Jared Kleinfuck was a lot more funnier than Connor’s contact name for me.

 

“Well, fuck you too, Zoe Murphweed.”

 

Right as I say that, my phone rings. I pull it out. Unknown number. Weird. I hit the Accept Call button.

 

“Hello?”

 

“JARED, YOU BETTER COME QUICK, YOUR FATHER GOT HIS DICK STUCK IN THE OVEN AGAIN!” It’s my mom’s voice.

 

“Mom!?” I exclaim. “What’s going on!?”

 

I hear a long, dramatic, sigh from the other end of the phone. “I SAID, YOUR FATHER GOT HIS DICK STUCK IN THE OVEN AGAIN, SO YOU BETTER GET THE CROWBAR!”

 

I glance over to Zoe and Connor, their face red from trying not to laugh. My phone must’ve been on speaker mode. The android just looks concerned.

 

“What the hell, okay!?” I yell. “Connor, do you have a crowbar?”

 

“Yeah..”  He’s wiping a tear from his eye, out of breath still laughing a bit. “There’s..there’s one in the basement. I’ll help you look for it.” I follow him, and so does the android.

 

I barely notice Zoe getting out of her seat and going to the fridge. It looks like she got a granola bar and was handing it to thin air, but that might’ve just been me looking away from her too fast.

 

I didn’t really care either way, I have to stop my dad’s dick from frying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate the moment where Android Evan and Real Evan are in the same scene, it's so confusing to write haha


	7. ZOE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoe and (the real) Evan learn something new about Zoe's strange teacher, Mr. Rilow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know Spring Awakening, you probably won't get half the shit Mr. Rilow says. And if you don't, Mr. Rilow's just gonna seem even weirder.

“Did you do that!?” I ask Evan, grinning dumbly. “How!?”

Evan smirks, his ghostly body floating in the air. We were both in my room and I was getting ready for school. “Don’t ask me how I found out, but I can perfectly mimic anyone’s voice. It’s one of my spoopy ghost abilities, I guess. And perfect for prank calls.” He flips his hair.

“Jeebus wheebus..” My voice is a bit raspy.

“Jeebus wheebus?” Evan snickers. “Do you normally say things like that?”

I laugh along with him. “Yeah, you got a frickity frackity fracking problem with that? I’ll slap the gee whiz out of you!”

Evan bursts into laughter. I give him a half-smile. While I do, I eye myself in the mirror and touch the ends of my hair. I gaze at the craft scissors on my desk a bit before I grab them.

“Woah, what are you gonna do with those scissors?” Evan asks, grinning with an eyebrow raised.

“Shank you with them, that’s what.”

“No, seriously.”

“I…” I look at myself in the mirror for a bit before looking back at the ghost. “I kinda want to cut my hair.”

“Wow, and here I thought you couldn’t make yourself look even more like a lesbian.”

 _Well, that’s kind of the thing,_  I wanted to say. “It won’t be too short! Just shoulder length, or maybe a few inches past my ears?”

“Yeah, if you cut it any shorter, your parents are probably gonna kill you.” Evan remarks. “You want me to help you cut it? Jared’s mom taught me how to style and cut hair when I was younger.”

“Yeah, sure.” I hand him the scissors.

* * *

Evan did a better job than I thought he would do, and I was pretty happy with my short hair. Nobody really noticed the haircut, though. Or at least nobody cared enough to acknowledge it.

“So, did I blow your mind with a good haircut?” Evan asks. He weirdly disappeared after the haircut. He seems to now want to talk about it.

“No.” I lie, playing with the hem of my shirt. I was wearing a bluetooth earpiece so I wouldn’t look weird when I talked to Evan.

“Well, fuck you then.” Before I could respond, somebody passes by us. It was Alana Beck,  _the_  Alana Beck. The smartest girl in the school. I’ve been crushing on her since like, the sixth grade and I’ve only ever realized it when I was in freshman year of highschool. I wanted to know how I could come out to my parents, and being the person I am, I searched up “how to dress like a lesbian” and thought that if I dressed like one, one of my parents (or maybe even Connor) would figure out. They didn’t.

And if they did figure it out, I didn’t have a plan for what I’d do afterwards. What if they were disappointed? Their daughter was a complete fuck up, first she fails all her classes and now she’s some gay  _freak._

“Drooling over Alana Beck, I see.” Evan snaps me out of my train of thought, which I was grateful for.

“Wh-I am  _not_  drooling over her!”

“Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” He floats onto his back.

“I never really seen you not floating..”

“I think I’ll probably phase through floor if I even try.” he snaps his fingers and gives me finger guns. Dork. Suddenly, someone walks through him. He sits up gasping.

“How  _dare_ you! I feel so violated right now!” His body starts to flicker and he pauses. “...Shit, that felt weird..”

“You literally started to flicker.”

“Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.”

“Fuck off, Watson.”

We make it to my locker. I grab my stuff, blocking out something Evan was saying. Probably some shit about how I’m doing something lamely. My gaze goes back to him as he tries to get my attention.

“Jesus fucking Christ, you have the attention span of a goldfish.”

“I think I heard Jared say you were Jewish..”

“Well, kinda. My mom’s side of the family is strictly atheist. My grandparents tended to pound a bunch of science-y shit on me when I was younger, but my dad was Jewish. So...half Jewish? I dunno, It’s complicated.”

“..Not asking.”

“Good. Anyways, you should get going. The bell is gonna ring right about..” The bell rings. “Now!” He grins.

“You little shit.” I shut my locker and head off to my first class, Evan following not that far behind. I get to my class and the teacher looks at me.

“Glad you could join us, Miss Murphy.” I wobble sheepishly to my seat. I’m glad that it’s Mr. Rilow, though. He’s a pretty chill teacher. As long as it isn’t that long after the bell rings and it doesn’t happen that much, he won’t do anything about it.

“I like cream.” Mr. Rilow says, pointing at the board. Which currently said nothing. “And you should all like cream.”

“Cream?” Evan is confused. “Why is he talking about cream?”

“Why are we talking about cream, Mr. Rilow? Because I like cream.” Mr. Rilow says immediately after, as if he could hear Evan. “Write this down.”

I nod and write “CREAM” in all caps on my paper and underline it harshly.

“This should be a easy topic. Stiefels might have a bit of trouble, Gabors won’t get this at all. Most of you aren’t either of the two, so you should be fine.”

Somebody raises their hand.

“Yes, Sabrina?”

“What’s a Stiefel and what’s a Gabor?”

“Well, Miss Patel.” Mr. Rilow starts. “A Gabor is a smart-alec asshole that has never and will never have any sort of experience in the art of skimming off the cream. A Stiefel, though, may not have exactly the best cream-skimming abilities, but they do have a talent for creaming away the bliss.”

The class was taken-aback by Mr. Rilow’s swearing. Well, except for Sabrina.

“Yeah, but like, seriously. Is it like, an ancestry thing or-”

“Miss Patel, if we focus on what is or what is not a Gabor or a Stiefel, we won’t get anything done in this class. Let’s save the questions for later, shall we?”

“Wait,” I realize. “Didn’t your mom change her last name to Gabor?” I whisper to Evan.

Evan nods. “It was her maiden name, I think.” Before I could say anything else, Mr. Rilow catches me.

“Miss Murphy, care to tell the class why you’re talking in the middle of my lesson?”

“Uh, sorry, sir.” I say. “I, um, I was talking to somebody with my bluetooth earpiece.”

“Hand it over, you can have it after class.”

I turn it off and hand it to him, hoping my lie holds up. I hear two girls laugh quiet enough so that Mr. Rilow couldn’t hear them, but loud enough so that I could. I try to ignore it.

“As I was saying,” Mr. Rilow puts the earpiece in his pocket and starts talking. “Skimming off the cream is a skill that requires time and effort, and I expect none of you to not take it as seriously as I and many others do.”

The rest of the class went on like that. Mr. Rilow talked in milk metaphors during his lesson and Evan sometimes said something witty about it. I didn’t get much of what Mr. Rilow said, and spent most of the period with my head down.

When class ended, I was the last one to leave. I was about to go to my next class before Mr. Rilow stopped me.

“Miss Murphy, your earpiece.” He gives it back to me. “I told you you could have it after class.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I forgot about that.”

“By the way,” He starts. “I can see him, Miss Murphy.”

“See who?” I raise my eyebrow.

Mr. Rilow smiles and points straight at Evan. “Him, obviously. Hello, Mr. Hansen.”

My eyes widen, and Evan’s mouth is open in shock.

“And I know that he’s a Gabor, so you should really watch out for him, especially since your mother was a Stiefel. I don’t want him affecting your grade or getting you into trouble, okay?”

“..Okay..” I’m almost speechless, and Evan looks too shocked out of his wits to say anything. I feel the same.

“Thank you. You should get to class now, I don’t want you getting late again.” He grins. “Both of you.”

I nod and leave the classroom, and Evan follows right behind.

* * *

“How was he able to see me!? I don’t even know how  _you’re_  able to see me!” Evan yells.

“I don’t know, Ev.” My voice cracks. I don’t even bother to put on the earpiece anymore. Besides, the hallway was probably too loud for anybody to hear me.

“And if anybody could see me, why couldn’t it be my mom!? Or, I don’t know, maybe even Jared!? Somebody that I have  _some_  sort of a connection to when I was alive! I didn’t even have Mr. Rilow’s class when I went to this school!” Evan yells again.

Before I could respond, the two girls who laughed at me in Mr. Rilow’s class and one other girl with them walked towards me. They were my “friend” group. They weren’t exactly nice to me, but they were all I had.

“Hi, Stephanie. Hi, Caitlin. Hi, Addison.” I wave at them weakly, half-expecting them not to answer.

“Hi, Zoe.” Addison was the self-appointed leader of the group, and funnily enough, she was Aiden Anderson’s younger sister. Her voice was like if somebody had snuck a razor into a chocolate bar. “Caitlin told me that you snuck a bluetooth earpiece or something into Mr. Rilow’s class. Is that true?”

Caitlin giggles behind her, but Stephanie stays silent. I could kind of sympathize with her sometimes. Other than me, Stephanie was like the weak link of the friend group. She wasn’t completely innocent, though. She was always the one that went “Ooh, sorry, no seats left, Zoe.” whenever I tried to sit with them at lunch or went “Oh, sorry, Zoe, I’m already partnered up with Caitlin.” whenever there was a two-partner project. Basically, all of them were pretty bad friends. Caitlin and Stephanie never even hung out with me unless they were with Addison.

"Yeah, I guess that's true.."  
  
“Who were you even talking to, anyway?” Caitlin asks, a dirty look on her face. “Your boyfriend or something?”     
  
Evan crinkles his nose in disgust at the idea, so do I.  
  
“What!? No, never! I don’t even like b-” I stop myself. “I’ve..just, given up on high school guys, y’know?”  
  
"Yeah, who would want to date her anyway, Caitlin?" Addison taunts.  
  
I frown a bit. Evan noticed that that got to me and scowled at them like he did with the android.  
  
"Oh, come on, Zoe." Now Stephanie talks. "It's just-It's just a joke. You don't have to overreact."  
  
"Oh, Zoe, You don't have to overreact!" Evan's voice goes all pitchy, not even trying to mimic Stephanie properly. Even though he said he could perfectly mimic anyone if he wanted to. I guess he just doesn't care as much right now.  
  
"I'm not, I'm fine." I brush it off. "Oh, uh, I actually wanted to ask you guys about something."  
  
I wait for one of them to ask what, they don't. Instead Addison just scrunches up her eyebrows and gestures for me to ask, obviously irritated.  
  
"Mrs. Bergmann says that I might have this math learning disability, and-"  
  
Caitlin laughs and Stephanie looks at me weird. I frown, but try to continue.  
  
"Yeah, and-and she says it's called Dyscalculi-" The bell rings. As it does, I immediately rush to my next class and push pass the group. Evan gives Addison and the others the middle finger before following after me.  
  
Today was going to be a rough day.


	8. THIRD PERSON

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An extra Halloween chapter we wrote for fun.

Evan didn’t really have a crush on Zoe anymore, he did in middle school and freshman year of highschool, but not anymore. Sure, he still admired her, but he wouldn’t call it a crush. And it’s not like Evan could have a relationship with Zoe either way, considering that Zoe was probably a huge lesbian and that Evan was a literal fucking ghost.

 

He and Zoe were currently at a costume store. She was looking for a costume she could wear at some Halloween party another kid invited her to, and she wanted to make it quick because she only had a few hours until she had to be there. Evan, of course, had tagged along with her.

 

Zoe said she wanted one of those “sexy” Halloween costumes because, in her words, “It’s a Halloween party, Evan. It’s either slut up or shut up!” which Evan couldn’t disagree with. He was never invited to a Halloween party before, in fact, he’s never been invited to a party before in general. So, who was he to judge?

 

"Why can't you just wear like, a normal costume? I'm not saying you should, I just want to know why you can't be scary on Halloween. Because, y'know, you're supposed to be scary on Halloween. Unless you're like, a six year old going trick-or-treating. Which you obviously aren't." Evan remarks, floating in the air. Zoe shrugged in response.

 

He looks at a ghost costume. “What the fuck?”

 

Zoe snorts “That’s how people picture ghosts”

 

“What the fuck is that rag of a outfit? Come on, ghosts have a better sense of fashion that that shit!” He groans.

 

“I’m gonna buy and wear that just to piss you off.”

 

“And if you do I’ll shank you in your sleep.”

 

“I’ll look forward to that. Honestly, I don’t think you will even muster up the courage to kill me.” She picks up that costume and walks to the counter to pay, Evan scowling and following behind.

 

Once they get back Zoe goes and gets the costume on in the bathroom putting on the white makeup that came with it. When she enters her room Evan is spread out on her bed. He looks to her.

 

“You look like a shitty ghost.”

 

“Thank you, I was going exactly for that look!”

 

And the android comes in. Evan watches with narrowed eyes. He had the cat ear and tail extensions on.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come with Ma’am?”

 

“I’m sure. I’ll stay safe.” She offers a smile at it. It seems fake. The android nods and walks out.

 

“I’m not going, so you know.”

 

“I wasn’t going to have you come with anyways. Wreck havoc around the house while I’m gone, will ya?” She asks, raising an eyebrow.

 

“What else would I do on Halloween night? I mean, it’s a night celebrating monsters! And technically, as a ghost, I am one.”

 

She nods. Pausing, Evan yells out “Zoe, wait!” She turns around.

 

“Just...if anybody messes with you..tell me, alright? I’ll make them pay for it.”

 

She looks to him a mixed emotion on her face that he couldn’t read. “Yeah. I will.” She turns around again “Honestly, you are more of an older brother than Connor will ever be and honestly, I like that.” And she leaves.

 

He watches her leave from the window. Her car rolls away, and he sighs sitting down thinking about what Zoe said. Suddenly Evan stood up again. He is not going to spend the whole night thinking about what Zoe said. He needs to do his some haunting. And with that an idea comes to his head. Grinning, he floats through some walls gathering what he needs.

 

Connor is sitting in the living room. Larry is out, Zoe is at a party, and Cynthia is out shopping so he has the whole house to himself. They usually buy tons of candy but barely nobody comes over to that part of town, so he just lays on the couch watching shitty Halloween movies and scoffing at the bullshit of it.

 

The light flickers a bit and he glares at the ceiling. The light has been flickering weirdly for a while now. Larry put in new light bulbs twice and they just remodeled the house so they shouldn’t have bad wiring so nobody knows why it does that.

 

The android walks in. “Did it flicker again?”

 

“Yep.” Connor pops the P on it.

 

It stares at the light for a moment before commenting “The wiring has no faulty wires. You think it could be a spirit?”

 

“What, are you saying you believe in ghosts?”

 

“I don’t have any beliefs, but it is Halloween, isn’t it?”

 

Connor sighs a bit. “Honestly I’ve never had an experience with a ghost, so why should I believe in them?”

 

The android sits next to him. “You should maybe get more into the spirit of the holiday.”

 

“Evan. Go clean my room.” Connor commands, tired of the Halloween talk. The eyes on the android flash blue, showing the command has registered. It gets up and walks up the stairs. Sighing in relief, he glances over to the TV again unaware of the white cloth floating near the couch. He feels a tap on his shoulder and finds a white cloth just floating there.

 

“Yeah, real funny. I said go clean my room.” He spat out standing up pulling off the cloth. He jumps back. What surprised him wasn’t the slung from upstairs that conveniently happened at the same time, but the fact that there was nothing under the cloth. He screams. The android comes running down the stairs weilding a broom, which would be honestly funny if it were for the situation that there was literally fucking nothing under that cloth. The android’s eyes flash again. An orange? Weird. He might have to ask Larry about that.

 

“Why did you scream?” It walks over, head tilted cautiously.

 

“This cloth was floating with a humanoid shape but when I took it off there was FUCKING NOTHING UNDER IT!”

 

It stares at Connor and shakes its head a bit smiling softly. It scans him a bit. “I don’t sense any weed on you. Maybe you should get some sleep.”

 

“IM NOT FUCKING HALLUCINATING!” But his voice is unheard as he is pushed up the stairs by the android into his room. Even though it wasn’t that long that it was in his room, his room is surprisingly cleaner. The android brings in his insomnia pills with a glass of water before turning on his side lamp and shuts the main light off leaving.

 

Little did he know there was a certain spirit laughing his ass off in his little sister’s room.


	9. EVAN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan goes to that coffee place with Aiden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alternate summary: dumb gay babies go to starbucks

I’m honestly a bit concerned about Zoe.

 

She’s been spending considerably long periods of time staring at nothing, and she often laughs and smiles at random. And whenever I go checking on her, it looks like she’s been talking to herself.

 

It didn’t help that she’s noticeably uncomfortable around me, as if I was out to get her. I hope she isn’t scared of me or anything. After all, I am supposed to protect the Murphys and make them feel safe. I try to reach out to her and ask if she’s okay, but all she does is give quick answers and obvious fake smiles.

 

I ask Connor if he knows what’s going on with her, but he just shrugs. He doesn’t even notice these things.

 

Alana has been checking on me a lot more lately, could’ve been because of the malfunction that one time but I think even if it was, she didn’t need to stop by the Murphys with her computer that much. I ask her about it but she always changes the subject.

 

Something I’ve been looking forward to, though, was the coffee meetup with Aiden. It was supposed to happen the day I malfunctioned, so we had to reschedule it to today. Jared had installed something in me that actually allows me to drink stuff, y’know, to seem more human. Even though I can’t taste it, I still can’t wait to try coffee. Connor informed me to just take sips because coffee is supposed to be hot, so I can’t just drink it all at once.

 

After school, Zoe suggests she drops me off at the coffee shop. Connor had to stay back for detention because he flipped off a teacher and told them to “go fuck a worm” right after. I’ll probably have to talk to him about it after his detention is done.

 

On the way, I had these two moments where suddenly I couldn’t control myself and one time, even saying something vulgar in front of Zoe. She just laughed, though. After the second time, I immediately send in a report to LifeUp to inform them of it.

 

When we got there, I thank Zoe for the ride and walk in. The coffee shop was crowded, but Aiden was nowhere in sight (Well, not yet, at least). So, I sit at one of the tables and wait.

 

It’s only a few minutes until Aiden shows up, wearing arguably too much cologne (Axe body spray, I assume) and hair gel. I smile at him.

 

“Hey, Aiden!” I say sweetly, batting my eyelashes softly at him. “Glad you could make it.”

 

Aiden’s face goes pink. “Oh, uh, hey, dude.” He sits across the table I’m in.

 

“Y’know, you look _really_ nice today.” I say, still smiling. Before he could respond, I stand up. “C’mon, let’s get some coffee.” Aiden nods a bit, also standing up. We both walk to the counter.

 

I notice there is a barista android doing the coffee. The human barista at the counter smiles at us “And what can I get you two lovebirds?” She asks. Aiden immediately starts to blush.

 

“Wh-we’re not, it’s not, we’re just-” Aiden sputters.

 

“We aren’t dating” I finish. The barista gives us an “ _Ohhhhh_ , okay.” expression and nods.

 

Aiden spares me a grateful glance. “Anyways,” He says. “What do you want to get? I’ll pay.”

 

“Oh, no, I’ll pay. It’s only fair that I do!” I offer.

 

“No, I’ll pay.”

 

“No, no, I will.”

 

“Seriously, it’s fine, I’ll-”

 

“I want to pay!”

 

“Okay, fine, you will.” Aiden surrenders. “What are you gonna get?”

 

I thought about it. “I’ll get a pumpkin spice latte. You know, to fit with the season.”

 

“Wow, basic white bitch much?” Aiden raised his eyebrow and smiled. “I’ll just get a black coffee. Fits my personality, y’know?”

 

I shrug and pay for it. After we do, we sit at our table and wait.

 

“So, Evan..” Aiden starts. “You’re friends with Murphy, right?”

 

“Which?” I look up at him, eyes innocent. Something shifts in Aiden’s face as he looked at mine.

 

“Connor. Connor Murphy.” Aiden clarifies. “You guys are friends, yeah?”

 

“Of course we are! Why do you ask?”

 

“Is he..bothering you?”

 

“What?” My smile drops a little.

 

“It’s just, I want to know if he like, forced you to hang out with him and you developed, like, platonic stockholm syndrome or whatever.”

 

“No, no, I wasn’t forced. I did it on my own willingness” I assure him.

 

“Oh...why?”

 

“There is definitely more than what meets the eye with him.” I smile politely, and just in time, the barista calls out our names. Aiden stands up. I try to stand up too, but he stops me.

 

“Since you paid, I’m getting the drinks. Alright?” I just nod, there’s no use in fighting him about that. I just sit there, not used to this feeling of not getting the stuff. Is this freedom?

 

I jolted out of my thoughts when I hear the sound of the cardboard cup hitting the table. Aiden is already sipping his. I grab mine. The heat receptors in my hands tell me it’s a nice warm. Remembering what Connor told me I take a sip of it.

 

“So, is it good?” Aiden questions, sitting his own down.

 

“It is!” I lie. I can’t actually taste it, but he can’t know that. I take another sip.

 

Aiden chuckles “You know they usually cool down drinks?”

 

“Well, you’re also sipping it..”

 

“Yeah. Cause I asked for it to stay hot.”

 

“Well maybe I’m just enjoying it slowly.” I retort. Aiden chuckles.

 

“Alright, cutie.” He immediately freezes after he says that. “God..fuck, shit, goddamnit! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to let that come out!”

 

“You...you find me cute?” I ask.

 

“I’m so sorry, that sounds so fucking weird. No, no, I don’t!” Aiden responds.

 

“Oh..”

 

Aiden freezes up even more. “No, I mean, yes, you _are_ cute, but I’m not, it’s not-!”

 

“It’s fine, Aiden.” I don’t meet his eyes. I take a sip of my pumpkin spice latte.

 

“Well..I mean, unless you wanted-“

 

I look at him.

 

“Um….uh, nevermi-“

 

“No. Say what you wanted.”

 

“Uh...um, unless you actually wanted to..um...date or whatever?”

 

“Are you saying you’re gay?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“It’s fine if you are, Aiden.”

 

“I’m not sure..”

 

“That’s fine.” I smile, and then I thought of something. “I wanna show you somewhere after this, okay?” Aiden nods.

 

The rest of our conversation went good, and we both finished our coffees. I step out of the booth and hold out my hand for him. He looks confused for a second, and then I remind him I was going to show him somewhere. He nods and takes my hand, but he doesn’t really meet my eyes and just looks the other way with a blush. I grin at him.

 

I lead him to a park. I have a weird feeling about this place, like I’ve been here before.

 

“Why are we at Ellison State Park?”

 

“Trust me.” I comfort him a bit. And I lead him in. I seem to navigate this place with ease, I pass by this one tree and I feel an unfamiliar chill go down my spine. I try to ignore it and continue going the place where I wanted to be. A cliff side, showing off a sky-blue lake framed by trees. Aiden gasps. “It’s beautiful up here. How did you know about it?”

 

I didn’t know why, but one word came out. “Internship.”

 

“Oh yeah..I remember hearing about your internship here.”

 

“You did?” I ask confused. Honestly, I’m gonna have to do a bit more research on the person I was based off.

 

“Yeah. I heard from one person that you died. But, you’re right here, so obviously, it was just a rumor.”

 

“Yeah. Just a rumor.”

 

We both look out. The sun was setting. We watch and soon enough, I turn to look at him. He looks confused. I step forward and wrap my arms around him. His face goes red, but I can see anticipation on his face. He is waiting, wanting..so, I close in the space.

 

I press my lips against his, and Aiden kisses back. Everything just seemed to slow down. We were reeling, and the world was reeling. It wasn’t long before we both pull back, gasping for air, and look at each other with disbelief that we just did _that._

 

We stood there for a bit, still silent. Aiden decides to break the silence.

 

“So..what next?”


	10. CONNOR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor being a paranoid little shit

After what I saw on Halloween, I decided looking up ways to tell if your house is haunted (Which it most definitely is) and ways you can get rid of ghosts. Some of the things I’ve tried are using sage and crystals (ex: black tourmaline, onyx, and agates). I’ve been putting crystals around the house, mainly the living room because it’s the first time I’ve encountered the ghost and my room for obvious reasons.

But, unfortunately, my efforts didn’t work as well as they should’ve. That Halloween wasn’t the last time the ghost did something. One day, I woke up and went to the bathroom to wash my face. Before I could, though, I looked in the mirror, and instead of seeing my face, I saw the face of a dead body (presumably a boy) flash for a few seconds until eventually fading away. I couldn’t observe it that well, but everything to the the unnaturally pale skin and dead, still eyes made it very clear that what I saw wasn’t the living.

Another time was in the basement. And maybe it was because I didn’t put any sage or crystals in there because nobody in the house really ever needs to go to the basement that much, but I went back down there to return the crowbar that Jared finally gave back. (And he said his mom told him she didn’t remember calling him, and his dad didn’t actually get his dick stuck in the oven. Weird..) Anyway, I was going to put it into one of the boxes in the basement where the crowbar originally was until I heard a voice come behind me.

“Hey, Connor.”

It sounded a lot like the android’s voice to me, so I sighed and turned around, expecting to see him. Except I didn’t. It was that same figure I’d seen in the mirror, but this time, it was smiling, and their eyes were like flashlights, lighting up the dark room. He was only there for a split second though, but I saw him, I saw him. And I knew that he was there. I made sure to use sage for the room and put crystals in there too after I left, especially the spot where I saw the ghost.

I kept seeing the figure over and over again, and It didn’t stop until I had put crystals all over the house (except for Zoe’s room, she told me not to). Larry seemed to be weirded out by it a little, but didn’t really care enough to ask. Mom and the Android asked, though. But I was sure they wouldn’t believe me If I told the truth, so I just said I did it because I thought it looked nice. I was relieved that I couldn’t see the ghost anymore. (Well, at least, not where I had put the crystals) but it wasn’t long until Zoe had a problem with it.

“Hey, Connor, can you get rid of all the crystals and stuff?” Zoe asked one morning while we were having breakfast. Well, we weren’t eating it, but we were there at the breakfast table. And considering how some of mom’s cooking is, that basically became our definition of having breakfast at the Murphy house.

“What? why?” I asked back.

“It’s not because, it’s not, It’s really..” She paused, took a deep breath, and continued talking. “It just..It just bothers me, I guess.”

“Why does it bother you? You aren’t being affected by them.”

“Connor, what do you mean by affected?”

“Well..it’s more of protecting the house..”

“From what?” Larry puts his phone down, stopping looking at emails for once in his life.

“Spirits..” I mumble. They obviously heard me.

“Connor, have you been smoking again?”

“What? No! The android literally follows me everywhere I can’t smoke in front of it!”

“You shouldn’t be smoking in general..” I hear Zoe mumble.

“Fuck you.” I stand up, slamming my hands on the table. Zoe glares back.

“Fuck you too!”

I can hear Cynthia gasp as I storm out.

I get to my room and sit on my bed, trying to calm myself. I can hear the android working on something in another room. Weird. I take deep breaths, trying to calm myself. God, why is Zoe such a bitch? I’m trying to protect us and she doesn’t like it.

I just think about it before realizing something. What if Zoe is possessed? What if the reason I haven’t seen the ghost is because it possessed her and is using her to get the crystals out? I immediately sit up, grabbing my laptop and typing in “how to exorcise spirit”.

I scroll through different website links (that are mostly just horror movie promo websites and obviously fake tutorials) until I find one that seems to be reliable.

 _HOW TO EXORCISE A SPIRIT_  
_By Heidi Gabor (Self-Proclaimed Ghost Expert)_  
_Nov. 1st, 2005_

 

Heidi Gabor? Isn’t that the name of the Head of Design? She must’ve written this when she was younger. Or maybe not. Heidi’s a common name, right? And Gabor is a fairly common last name, too. Besides, Heidi didn’t seem like the type of woman to be interested in ghosts and demons and whatever..did she? I shrug it off and continue reading.

 

_If you find out that a spirit might be possessing somebody you know, don’t panic._

 

..Really?

 

_Although the media often gets them mixed up, spirits are NOT the same as demons. Depending on why they’re still on Earth and how they were like when they were alive, a spirit can be either completely harmless or more violent, but in most cases, spirits don’t want to hurt you. They simply just want to complete their unfinished business on Earth and then they’ll leave you completely alone._

_Keep in mind, a spirit is just somebody who’s died. Just because you’ve died doesn’t mean you’re automatically evil, that’s just unreasonable._

_A demon, though, is always harmful. It’s not a spirit, it’s not somebody who’s died, it is not human. And it will most likely hurt you. But demons aren’t the subject we’re touching on, so it doesn’t really matter (Check out my other articles if you want to learn about demons!)_

 

I feel a little calm knowing that the spirit may not hurt me, but at the same time, am I sure it’s not a demon? I hope not. I continue reading.

 

_Get whoever you want to exorcise in a room. Don’t force them into the room, though. That’ll just backfire. Make them feel calm, don’t give them the impression that you’re gonna hurt them or something. Make sure this room is empty and there’s nobody there._

 

Definitely the basement. Who even goes there anymore?

 

_Surround the room with spirit repellent (Ex: sage, crystals, etc.)_

 

I got that covered.

 

_And once you’ve got them settled, chant “YEETUS SPIRITUS” at least ten times, more if you think the spirit is strong. This should get the spirit out. And if that doesn’t work, try communicating with the spirit by saying things like “Why are you here?” “What do you want?” “Please leave!”_

 

That wouldn’t be too hard.

 

_And just for fun, wear robes and stuff to feel in character. This isn’t mandatory at all, but if you just wanna be extra, there are fashionable and cheap robes you can order on the internet, or just by any costume shop near you. Your robe should preferably be red or black, but if you want a hot pink robe, you do you._

 

 

Sure, why not? If I die trying to exorcise a spirit, at least I’ll die in style. Besides, the experience is terrifying enough I might as well have fun with it.

I scroll through the rest of the article, there weren’t any steps left but there was a link to the author’s email if anybody had any questions and a link to their MySpace page. I finally exit out and search up “cheap robes online”. It turns out all the cheap black and red robes are sold out (How many people are doing spirit exorcisms these days?) so I have to settle with a hot pink one.

Whatever. It’s better than dying in a thrift shop jacket and flip flops.

 

* * *

 

 

The robe arrive earlier than I expected. I take the robe out of the box and set them on my bed. I’ll do it tonight, but I should probably set up more crystals and sage in the basement. Grabbing the box, I keep my spares in I head down to the basement. The android is down here. He tilts his head, confused.

“Sir, why are you down here?”

“I told you not to call me that.” I mutter, setting the box down at the bottom of the stairs.

“I cannot go against my programming.”

“I’ll talk Jared into taking that command off.”

He just looks back to what he was doing. “You never answered my question.”

“And why are you down here?”

“Your father asked me to grab something down here. It’s quite buried deep so it’s gonna take a while”

“What did he need?” I walk over looking into what Evan was going through.

“A baseball glove.”

I crinkle my nose in disgust. “Why the fuck does he need that old thing?”

“I don’t know.” Then he pulls out a glove. My eyes widen at it. It’s that one baseball glove dad got me. The android notices my change in mood. “You recognize it, don’t you?”

“He got it for me for my birthday..” I was honestly worse back then and threw it back at him out of spite...That’s when he started getting colder to me. I shake my head, getting the memory out. “I’m fine. Go give it back to him.”

“..Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are-“

I cut him off.

“I’m fine, Evan.” The android steps back a bit looking at me with a look of worry, then turns and walks out of the basement. I sigh, sitting down. God, why am I such an asshole? Getting up I grab the box opening. At least I can do one right thing for this family.

* * *

 

I put the robe on a hanger in the basement and am ready. I go and knock on Zoe’s door.

“What do you want?” She Yells through the door.

“I wanna show you something!” I yell back. She opens the door. “Better be good.” She comments. I step aside allowing her to get out of her room. I lead her to the basement keeping an eye on her. She doesn’t really show a reaction which is good. Leading down to the basement she pauses in the middle of the staircase seeming to watch the door.

“Zoe?” I ask snapping her gaze off the door. She looks to me and then fully goes down the stairs. I grab the robe off the hanger putting it on. Zoe snorts. “Pink looks horrible on you.” Probably the ghost talking I conclude internally

“Shut up.” I remark and start on the chant. She just watches.

“I’m not possessed, fuckwad.” She starts sounding amused.

“But you seemed to be acting differently and you definitely are a horrible liar.”

“I’m..just….shut up, you are obviously high.” She sputters unintelligently.

“Is calling me high your only response?”

“Connor, ghosts aren’t real.”

“But I have proof!”

“What proof?”

“Have you seriously not seen lights flicker around you or had a sudden chill?”

“The house probably has..faulty wiring and there might just be a random breeze.”

“Bullshit. We never had a problem before with either of those.”

“Connor..you’re scaring me..”

I stop. I didn’t notice I was cornering her and my fist was tightly clenched.

“Just...leave…” I turn away from her. She scampers away. I hear a soft voice that sounds like the android. “Asshole..”

I know nobody is there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo Astro/Vega here
> 
> so if you ever want to talk to us or we both have tumblr
> 
> It’s oaks_on_ Callisto (mine)
> 
> And andiplaque
> 
> Honestly we both tend to change our usernames a lot so if you ever can’t find it ask I guess,,


	11. EVAN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> don't worry, none of this is cannon.

it’d been like 86 years since the authors updated, lazy fucks. oh well. im going on a walk to help me clear my mind

i realize that nobody elsr is around and my phone is dead. do i even have a phone??? i just need to use my android abilities right?? i dont need a phone. but j am trying to fit in as a Cool Teentm so maybe i do

and then,. out of the corner of my eye, i spot him “SHIA LABEOUF!?!?!??!?!?!” i yell.

“yes its me uwu” shia labeouf reies. “i will grant you THREE wishes, my chold.”

i exclaim “RLLY???????”

shia labeouf smiled at me. “yrs android child’

“i want to FUCK all the penises”

“oof sorry. cant wish 4 that” shia labeluf says sadly.

“THEN I WISH TO BE A REAL BOI”

“a real boyo youll be theb!!!!!!” shia labeluf snaps his fingers and suddenly...i turn intro a real teenage BOYO!!!!!! buts it weird. i feel all horomeney and angrusty

“I WANY TOC OMMIT ACTS OF TEENAGE REBELLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” i yelld loudly. “I WILL SWEAR DXCESSLIVELY AND SMOKE ALL THE ALCOHOL AND HAVR THE SEX AND BLAZE IT FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY HAHA!!!!!”

“what else do you wish for now real bou?????”

“HHhnv” i yjonk. “i wabt my fuckin hm. MY BOYFRIEND TO HaVER SEX With me”

then, aiden appeared. he was all like “oOF what the hell am i doinh here??,??????”

“AIDEN!!!!! do the devils canaganingosm WIGH ME!!!! IF YOU WANT” i said because consent was hot and good and um..hnnngh..

nagjanwn…

 

h

 

“OK!” aiden agreed. ahnd then um.b WE DID the BANG and the CCRASH snd um the DING DONG affb fm

a,nd then jared walks in and is cronching in a bath bomb and sayus “SHAJJSB HOLY FUCK”

“i wish this 2 be A THREESMOE!!!” shia laboeufg nods and suddenly jard keonk joined in all yhe fun. i put my uh penis in all ofbthem and they dhdhbajshakj shegjana ybbgj  ghnf

fahjajHWJWG UM

 

JARD FYCKIN ubm

 

kin

 

AND THEN SHIA LEBAOYF JOINED IN TOO BECAUGSE  WHY NZOST AND UM I WAD SUENDRELDUEY BANGING THREE PEOPLE AND WTJEYQ WERE BANGKNG ME AND YHEN I CLIMAZED BUT WE DID IT AGAIN ANR HJAWJWJJEJDIDUEJDJSJZJBNn

 

gffh6u

 

This Weill be at the end

 

Melchior watches from heaven

 

“..what the actual fuck”

 

 

 

Ghost Evan stopped typing. “There!”

“You stole my computer just so you can do..whatever the hell this is..?” Zoe asked. Ghost Evan just nodded. Zoe rolled her eyes.

“Give me my computer back, jerk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a sweet apology for not posting for so long!


	12. (Real) EVAN

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating, for like, months. Have this.

It was a sunny day when we were hanging out in the backyard. Zoe was rambling on and on about how every girl at her school was either straight, taken, or mean to her. She also managed to verbally keysmash while talking about it, how she did is beyond me.

 

“Hey, fuckwad.”

 

She snorts in response ”What, you fucking dipshit?”

 

“You should buy a cat.”

 

She sits up from the laying belly first position she was in the lawn and grinned “We should totally buy a cat”

 

“We?” I ask. “How the fuck would I?”

 

“I’ll need help choosing what cat, idiot”

 

“Oh. Yeah I guess I can help.”

 

“You guess? You are definitely helping, asshole.”

 

“Fine.”

 

We head inside and Zoe grabs the keys off the table near the door. The jingling catches the attention of The android. I scowl at that and head out the front door not wanting to hear what it had to say. It is a while before Zoe comes out.

 

“took ya long enough.”

 

“Shut up the android weirdly had a list of the best starter cat breeds.”

 

“Weird..”

 

She grins and heads to the car. I roll my eyes at how excited she is and phase through the passenger door.

 

“God I wish I could do that.” She sighs opening the door when it unlocked.

 

“It’s weird at first honestly but you get used to it.” I comment as I look through her CDs.

 

“That makes me want to be a ghost”

 

“Oh trust me being a ghost isn’t that fun. First off you have to die and that isn’t fun.”

 

She adverts her eyes as I say that. She inserts the keys into the ignition turning them to turn on the car. I relax against the seat as I allow the rumble of the car to calm me. She keeps her eyes on the road but she asks me “Why do you even hate the android?”

 

“I hate myself” I snark at her.

 

“No shit. Just..tell me the actual reason?”

 

“Well...I don’t know, it just..feels like that after I died, I just got replaced by a shinier, better, _happier_ version of me. I mean, think about it; other than my mom, nobody’s took the time to grieve me. It just feels like my death is being overlooked, y’know?”

 

“Well...people are shit.” She concludes.

 

I chuckle a bit at that “you can say that again”

 

“Well..people are shit?”

 

“Not literally.”

 

“Oh-“

 

“Wait, did you stop driving when I started talking?”

 

“Yeah I can’t focus well when listening and driving at the same time”

 

“ZOELLA ELIZABETH MURPHY, WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!”

 

“WE ARE AT A RED LIGHT, EVANESCENCE MCR HANSEN!”

 

“DON’T SAY MY FULL NAME OUT LOUD!”

 

 _‘At least she doesn’t know my actual full name’_ I think to myself.

 

“Turn on the radio, I’m bored.” I groan.

 

She turns on the radio. A song I don’t like starts playing.

 

_“IT’S EVERYDAY BRO, WITH THAT DISNEY CHANNEL FLOW, FIVE-”_

 

“No, not that song! Switch to another station!”

 

Zoe rolled her eyes, but did so.

 

_“Pussy, pussy, pussy, marijuana-juana!”_

 

“Egh, not that either.”

 

“Okay, okay, how about this?”

 

She switches the station.

 

A g-note plays.

 

”ah fuck”

 

_“When I was, a young boy, my father, took me into the city..”_

 

Zoe starts crying and headbanging to the lyrics at the same time. Tears run down my face. The both of us scream and cry along with the song until the light turns green again.

 

8——————————————————————-D

 

When we arrive at the animal shelter Zoe immediately gets out. I follow after lazily floating after her. I can sense a increase in stress with the animals and my arrival. animals can sense spirits I know that but also I Don’t know why they are getting stressed at my presence. We head to the cat area. I can hear dogs howling and some cats hissing as I pass by. I flip them off in response.

 

“Evan stop flipping off the animals”

 

“Fuck you too!”

 

She rolls her eyes at that. We enter the adoption cats area and we greet some. Zoe goes over and greets and pets them well I stay a bit back and observe the cat. I can hear some hiss softly at my presence but one catches my eye. It’s a kitten. A litter of kittens are in the cage but one seems to be watching me but not in a hostile way. I go over. The other kittens scatter towards the back but the one stays. They meow softly and what hits me as a shock is I can understand what it is saying.

 

“Zoe come here.” I call over to her. She does so and I move a bit so she can see the kitten better “this one.”

 

She opens the cage. “Huh. Interesting cat.”

 

“It called me a bitch.”

 

“Well you are one.” She snorts. “You want this one?”

 

“Sure I guess it’s the only one that can handle me apparently.”

 

“You know why they don’t like you?” She sets the kitten back inside shutting the cage.

 

“They just can’t handle how I am much better then them and they hate me for that.” I gloat

 

“Sure. Sure you are”

 

We head over to one of the workers “I’d like to get a cat.” Zoe alerts the worker.

 

“Great! Show me which one.” I just float behind them boredly when a dog catches my eye. I float over to it. “Hey. You are literally the only one that isn’t barking at me.”

 

“You aren’t that scary, spirit.” The dog responds.

 

“What the fuck. Why can I understand you?”

 

“Depends on the type of spirit you are and what you were like in your life.”

 

“how did you know that?”

 

“You were the one that asked.”

 

“Ok. First of all fuck you”

 

“Just leave. Your human connection is almost done with what she needed. I can hear her.”

 

“Wait Wh-“

 

Zoe walks out from the door holding the cat. The worker behind her “We can get you a carrier and some food for an extra 50.”

 

“Yeah that’ll be great.” Zoe then sends a look my way telling me to get next to her. I roll my eyes and go up next to her.

 

“That’ll be 140 dollars Miss. Murphy.” Zoe sets down the cat as she grabs her wallet from her purse and pulls out 150. The worker takes it and hands Zoe the 10 back and grabs the carrier and a bag of cat food. Zoe grabs the cat and places it in the carrier. “I’ll go grab the needed papers.” And the worker leaves.

 

“Can you watch the cat? I’ll bring the food out.” Zoe asks me.

 

“Sure whatever. I’m gonna terrorize the animals more.”

 

She snorts “good luck with that.” She lifts up the bag and carries it out.

 

I float around watching as the other cats in the room hiss at me. Another worker enters and watches confused as all the animals are scared by an invisible force. Zoe enters again and sighs when she hears the chaos I caused. The worker who got the papers looks to Zoe apologetically “Sorry the animal’s usually don’t get like this. I don’t know what riled them up so bad” as she hands over the papers. Zoe takes them.

 

“Alright just sign this one and you may have the copy”

 

Zoe signs them quickly and grabs the copy and head over to pick up the cat.

 

“Have a nice day, ma’am” the worker calls out. Zoe shoots back a quick response and heads out to her vehicle with the cat. When we get inside Zoe chuckles. “How did you managed to piss off those cats that much?”

 

“Raw ability.” I shrug. I honestly don’t know either. She backs up her car. “Well. Let’s get back.” And starts driving back.”


End file.
